Best Birthday
by fictionalcandie
Summary: The best things often happen when you're not looking for them. And when Lily gave James a present for his 18th birthday, he certainly was looking for what he got. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: **The characters and settings depicted in this work of nonprofit fiction are the intellectual and legal property of J.K.Rowling.

**Author's Notes:** More Lily/James good(ish)ness. Thank you for reading, and don't forgot to review!

**o.o.o.o**

For James Potter's 18th birthday, Sirius Black, as any true friend would do, had decided to throw him a magnificent celebratory bash, complete with birthday cake and ridiculous quantities of presents. And, as anyone who knew Sirius could have predicted, he threw it in the common room, inviting the whole of Gryffindor to participate in the fun.

As James was rather popular, and Captain of the Quidditch team, and Head Boy, and not at all bad looking, most of Gryffindor was delighted by this news.

Sirius orchestrated the best parties, anyway, and they weren't to be missed unless you absolutely could not help it. They were always worth remembering, if for nothing else than the sheer number of sweets the boy managed to smuggle into the castle. (_How did he do it?_ everyone wondered.)

The party he'd thrown two years ago, upon his best friend winning his first match as Quidditch Captain, had been one of the most memorable. It hadn't been his fault, of course, since how could he have known that Lily Evans would start screaming at James for something? And he _certainly_ couldn't have known that at least half the House would promptly round on _her_ and insist she shut up, because she was ruining their appetite.

Most students quite despaired of anything so memorable happening at _this_ party, since Lily and James had been on semi-civil speaking terms since the beginning of term. The most they could hope for, they reasoned, would be an end to the ceasefire. Few things were as entertaining as these particular two classmates' one-sided feuding.

Things started off calmly enough. If, that is, you considered Sirius Black threatening a third of the population, the Prefects, about making people behave too much and then ordering everyone to have as much fun as they felt they safely could, to be calm. He did request, quite thoughtfully, that if anyone felt they were about to spontaneously combust, they should remove themselves from the area, thank you very much and now please enjoy yourselves.

Presents were opened, a gigantic cake was revealed, and things were starting to wind down, with the birthday boy standing in a circle of friends, telling some amusing story of a past birthday, when something _happened_.

"I think I'll give you my present now," declared Lily Evans, as she walked up to James in the front of the common room. Sirius hollered something that she chose not to hear. The rest of Gryffindor House lowered their voices, and watched the ensuing exchange closely.

James smiled at her rather brilliantly. "All right. It _is_ my party, you know."

Lily nodded. She did, indeed know. That was kind of the point.

"Well, my present isn't exactly wrapped," Lily explained, hesitating slightly.

James allowed himself to be a little unhappy at this news, because he could think of few things that he would like more than unwrapping a present from Lily Evans -- the top of the list, of course, being unwrapping Lily Evans herself. He didn't let his disappointment show, of course, and his wide smile didn't falter for a second.

"That's all right, Ev--Lily," he assured her. He crossed his arms over his chest confidently, to stop himself fidgeting, which he was afraid he'd start doing soon. "Just that you got me something is enough."

And it _was_, really.

Lily smiled too. "It has rather nice packaging, though," she told him, as if he needed cheering up. She hadn't moved much since she'd announced she was handing over her gift, and seemed to be drawing things out (which James had absolutely no problems with, if it meant he got to talk to her for longer). "Or so I've been told, anyway."

"All right." James looked at her, trying to figure out where she was keeping this present. He couldn't see... ah, her hands were behind her back. That must be where she had it. It made sense, of course, that she couldn't let him just see it right off. "Whatever you say, Ev--Lily."

Lily's smile turned a little impish.

Suddenly, James's attention was caught by the expressions of his friends, seated behind the Head Girl and staring at her. Peter looked rather confused by something, but when didn't he, and Remus's face was completely unreadable. Sirius, on the other hand, had the most striking expression of mingled delight and absolute shock.

James surmised that they could see what she'd gotten him, and didn't know what to make of it. His excitement increased slightly -- what could it be?

"Well, E--Lily?" he prompted expectantly, trying not to sound as eager as he felt. Not even Sirius's present had excited him this much, and _that_ had been a pair of prime tickets to the next Prides game, which had been followed by _profuse_ thanks.

Lily arched one of her delicate eyebrows slightly. Her green eyes flashed up and down him speculatively. He tensed slightly, not sure why she was looking at him like that, but reveled in the attention.

"Are you sure you're ready for it?" she spoke, after a minute of thoughtful silence.

"Lay it on me, Lily," challenged James, uncrossing his arms and spreading them in open invitation.

For some reason, this caused Lily to twitter a little. She nodded, "As you like, James."

She brought her hands from behind her back; they were empty. James experienced a moment of panic, as he considered that perhaps she'd been yanking his chain and didn't really have a present for him after all. Then, one of her hands grabbed the front of his robes and the other the back of his head. He found himself pulled in until he was right up against Lily.

Doing as she'd intended all along, Lily stood on her tiptoes and kissed him soundly on the lips.

James was aware of a moment of stunned silence from everyone else -- who could have predicted that Lily Evans would all but throw herself at the Head Boy, after all? -- and then a nearly deafening round of cheers. After that, all outside awareness faded, as he realized that _he was being kissed by Lily Evans._

This sort of thing required a lot of concentration, after all.

(Best damn birthday present he'd ever got.)

James wrapped his arms around Lily and willingly proceeded to concentrate quite hard for quite a few minutes.

_**fin**_


End file.
